Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, died Friday at her home in Washington. She was 87.
Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said.
Her death just over six weeks before Election Day is likely to set off a heated battle over whether President Donald Trump should nominate, and the Republican-led Senate should confirm, her replacement, or if the seat should remain vacant until the outcome of his race against Democrat Joe Biden is known.
Judge agrees to delay US government restrictions on WeChat
A judge has approved a request from a group of U.S. WeChat users to delay looming federal government restrictions that could effectively make the popular app nearly impossible to use.
In a ruling dated Saturday, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler of California said the government’s actions would affect users’ First Amendment rights, as an effective ban on the app would remove their platform for communication. Early on Monday, WeChat was still available for download at Apple and Android app stores.
The Trump administration has targeted WeChat and another Chinese-owned app, TikTok, for national security and data privacy concerns, in the latest flashpoint amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing. The administration contends that the data of U.S. users collected by the two apps could be shared with the Chinese government.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump said he supported a proposed deal that would have TikTok partner with Oracle and Walmart to form a U.S. company. There is still a chance that TikTok could be banned in the U.S. as of Nov. 12 if the deal isn’t completed, under the restrictions put in place by the Commerce Department.
Utah officer charged with assault after dog bites Black man
A Utah police officer was charged with aggravated assault after ordering a dog to attack a Black man who had put his hands in the air, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Jeffery Ryans was in his backyard on April 24 when police responded to a domestic dispute call. The Salt Lake County district attorney’s office said Ryans complied with officers' orders to raise his hands and remain in the backyard.
K9 officer Nickolas Pearce then told Ryans to get on the ground before kicking him in the leg, forcing him to his knees, and ordering the dog to bite Ryans, prosecutors said.
In body camera footage, Pearce can be heard repeatedly praising the animal and saying “good boy” while it latched onto Ryans’ left leg for about 20 seconds as he was being put in handcuffs.
Water shortages in US West likelier than previously thought
There's a chance water levels in the two largest man-made reservoirs in the United States could dip to critically low levels by 2025, jeopardizing the steady flow of Colorado River water that more than 40 million people rely on in the American West.
After a relatively dry summer, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released models on Tuesday suggesting looming shortages in Lake Powell and Lake Mead — the reservoirs where Colorado River water is stored — are more likely than previously projected.
Compared with an average year, only 55% of Colorado River water is flowing from the Rocky Mountains down to Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona line. Due to the below-average runoff, government scientists say the reservoirs are 12% more likely to fall to critically low levels by 2025 than they projected in the spring.